Diversifying what you do and always having a quality product are just two of the reasons
for the success of one small company in Hampton, Virginia.
Science and Technology Corporation, or STC, began with a staff of one and now employs over 300 people around the country.
In 1979, Owner and CEO Dr. Adarsh Deepak took his original idea for a small non-profit research institute
and evolved it into a well-respected for-profit company that provides many support services to federal and commercial entities.
Early on, Dr. Deepak made a strategic decision. Diversify what the company could offer.
Then, as now, he knew how to satisfy customers by simply providing what they want when they need it.
I wanted to relay before we graduated into this is a 9 year old program lay a wide beach front
you know enormous beach front so that one of the areas would be successful.
Along the way, STC has explored many avenues in the growth of their success.
One of those avenues is the Small Business Innovation Research program at NASA Langley Research Center.
In the mid-1990s with one of the world's leading experts in laser technology on STC's staff, Dr. Deepak knew the company
could submit an extraordinary proposal to Langley's SBIR program. He was right--
both their Phase One and Phase Two proposals were successful and not on a small scale either.
The company was able to do something that had never been done.
Build a small laser system that combined the capabilities of several systems into one unit.
That system has now flown on a number of successful NASA atmospheric science missions,
and the same technology is still being used by NASA today.
It is a really unique LIDAR system, at that time it was definitely even more unique.
Because of their laser work at Langley, STC has also had success in other SBIR programs, such as the Department of Defense.
STC managed to bring synergies and technology transfer from one agency to another.
That gave us the confidence to actually look for other contracts in other agencies too.
Another reason for STC's success has been the decision to license specific applications for technologies co-developed with Langley.
Two such licenses have resulted in commercial products for the company. One is a catalyst.
STC has the exclusive rights to manufactor and sell the catalyst for all laser applications and other applications as well.
And we are actually manufactoring the material here in this complex and then marketing it worldwide.
STC continues to follow the strategic plan laid out by Dr. Deepak. The business is highly-diversified and growing,
and they continue to turn out quality products. He's proud of where STC is today and
has advice for other small business owners who want to be successful.
If you have an idea, a creative idea, an innovative idea go ahead and write a proposal, submit it and make sure you implement it.
A lot of people have ideas they just do not persist enough to actually make it a go of it. And that is the secret of getting anything you have
or any idea that you have to make it into a successful product.